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A Specific Subset Of Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid-Type Channel Subunits In Caenorhabditis Elegans Endocrine Cells Function As Mixed Heteromers To Promote Neurotransmitter Release, Antony M. Jose, Amy Bany, Daniel Chase, Michael R. Koelle
A Specific Subset Of Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid-Type Channel Subunits In Caenorhabditis Elegans Endocrine Cells Function As Mixed Heteromers To Promote Neurotransmitter Release, Antony M. Jose, Amy Bany, Daniel Chase, Michael R. Koelle
Daniel Chase
Transient receptor potential (TRP) channel subunits form homotetramers that function in sensory transduction. Heteromeric channels also form, but their physiological subunit compositions and functions are largely unknown. We found a dominant-negative mutant of the C. elegans TRPV (vanilloid-type) subunit OCR-2 that apparently incorporates into and inactivates OCR-2 homomers as well as heteromers with the TRPV subunits OCR-1 and -4, resulting in a premature egg-laying defect. This defect is reproduced by knocking out all three OCR genes, but not by any single knockout. Thus a mixture of redundant heteromeric channels prevents premature egg laying. These channels, as well as the G-protein …